Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS: NEW TRIAL BID

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Laken Riley spent four years running cross-country track for her high school, River Ridge, in Woodstock, Georgia. Her passion for running continued during her studies at the University of Georgia. After earning her undergraduate degree, Riley began studying to become a nurse. One morning, Riley set out on a run. She grabbed her phone and told her roommate she would return after a short run at the UGA campus intramural fields. When Riley did not return for hours, her roommate called campus police at 12:07 p.m. Less than 45 minutes later, officers found Riley's body behind Lake Herrick. She was unconscious, not breathing, and showed visible injuries. Police arrested 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra and charged him with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another. Ibarra was convicted on all counts and sentenced to life in prison. Now, his attorneys have filed a motion for a new trial, questioning the evidence presented during the case Joining Nancy Grace Today: Phil Vetrano - Father of Murdered Jogger, Karina Vetrano Dale Carson – Criminal Defense Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer, Author: “Arrest-Proof Yourself;” X: @DaleCarsonLaw Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic Sheryl McCollum  – Forensics Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder; Host of Podcast: “Zone 7;” X: @149Zone7 Jason Dennis - Anchor: WTVM News leader 9 and WXTX; Facebook: Jason Dennis WTVM, Instagram: @jdennistv X: @JasonDennisWTVM   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young nursing student, Laken Riley, murdered on a morning jog. Believe it or not, even though we have gotten a verdict against the Trans-Iragua gangster, Jose Ibarra, it's not over yet. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. and sentenced to life in prison for the vicious murder of a beautiful young nursing student, Lakin Riley, near the UGA University of Georgia campus. But believe it or not, this guy knows no shame. The trendy Aragua gang member, Jose Ibarra, sentenced to life without parole, has now demanded a new trial. Are you kidding me?

Does he really think the same judge that acted as judge and jury in a bench trial, finding him guilty and sentencing him to life without the possibility of parole, is suddenly going to grant a new trial? Not with this evidence. Let's start with what we know. Take a listen to Chief Jeff Clark, a University of Georgia PD. On February 22nd, 2024, at approximately 12.07 p.m., the University of Georgia Police Department received a call from an individual concerned for a friend who had gone jogging at the intermural fields. Our officers responded to that area and immediately began a search of the area to attempt to locate the individual.

Officers located the individuals in the area behind Lake Herrick at approximately 1238. The individual was unconscious and not breathing and had visible injuries. Officers immediately began rendering medical aid. Emergency medical responders determined that the individual was deceased upon their arrival. This poor little girl, there's nothing they could do to save her. When I first heard she was unresponsive, I thought maybe she was just passed out cold. Maybe she was in a coma, but no, she was left there dead. I'm going to find out all the facts about how she was left.

You know, I want to point out that normally I get a bad taste in my mouth. My teeth go on edge when I hear campus police are handling a case. Think back to Kristen Smart. Remember that? How, how badly they ruined the murder investigation. But in this case, I've got to say, it seems to me that the UGA PD did everything right, God willing. But it sounds like they did. You were just hearing Chief Jeff Clark as he addresses the discovery of this young girl's body. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. Before I go to Jason Dennis, main anchor, WTVM, on the case from the beginning,

I want to go to a longtime friend and colleague who I immediately thought of when I heard about Lake and Riley, the nursing student. It's Phil Vetrano. We all lived through on the outside looking in when Karina Vetrano, his beautiful young daughter, was out jogging. He always jogged with her like my dad did. That one day he had a back ailment and that he just couldn't go and when she didn't call him and he didn't hear from her he knew something was wrong. He knew it was just a sixth sense. Phil Vetrano thank you for being with us. You know Phil Vetrano by the way was

hauled out of his daughter's funeral as they were about to have the funeral to get his DNA taken. Did he complain? No. Did he endure abuse online in the media speculation? Yes. He withstood it all until Karina's killer was convicted. Phil, when you see another story, when you heard about Lake and Riley, do you feel like nothing is being done? Nancy, when I first heard the story, to quote Yogi Berra, it was like deja vu all over again. I mean, we had Vanessa Marcotte, and then we had Mollie Tibbetts, and now we have Lincoln.

And the situation, the circumstances are so similar. I mean, the perpetrator was not a non-US citizen, had no care about human life, just dumped the bodies. And yeah, I mean, when I first heard this, I felt I went right back to seven years ago, which was not a good place. Not a good place at all. Guys, Phil Vetrano is weighing in. Phil, please jump in whenever a thought occurs to you, because you have lived through this same exact scenario. Let me go straight out to Jason Dennis now for the very latest in what we know happened.

I'm very curious. First of all, Jason Dennis, take a listen to Rachel Bonilla, Crime Online. Riley sets out on a morning run. She grabs her phone, telling her roommate that she'll be back after a half run at the UGA campus intramural field. When Riley doesn't return for hours, her roommate calls campus police 911 at 12.07 p.m. Jason Dennis,

again, thank you for being with us. I want to talk about not so much leading up to the discovery of her body. I want to talk about the evidence. I want to talk about how she was found, who found her, the condition of her body. Hit it. She was found right next to a lake, next to the intramural fields. And my son is a sophomore at the University of Georgia. He actually parks there at the intramural fields. And so around this lake is a pretty normal place for students, for people in the community of Athens, Georgia, to run around. And this was on a Thursday morning, right in the middle of the week. Nice weather there at Lake Herrick.

And as the UGA police chief was talking about, and he says he called this a crime of opportunity. So she went there running, we assume by herself. And, you know, he apparently, Mr. Ibarra, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, the suspect here, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. He lives in an apartment complex. It's literally right next to this lake. That area where she was killed, where she was found, is right behind his apartment complex. So essentially a five-minute walk for him to that area. So as UGA police call it, a crime of opportunity.

He's still behind bars, no bond, long list of charges like malice, murder, felony murder, kidnapping. And she was found there, like you said, like we heard before, unresponsive and dead on the scene. So she was left dead there. Blunt force trauma. He's accused of killing her in a brutal way and leaving her there dead to be found around lunchtime. Very somber, very sad vibe on campus. This is the first murder actually on UGA's campus in 30 years, according to the staff there at the school. Yeah, Jason Dennis, that campus PD, they're on you like a cheap suit. We have a family friend whose son attended UGA, graduated with honors,

a musician, the works, then got a job connected to Homeland Security. He was a musician walking down Music Row there in Athens and somebody threw an ID over a fence at a bar. He picked up the ID. He walked to the front of the entrance and went, this just came over the fence and the cops got him for using a fake ID. He went, I'm not using the fake ID. It just came. Long story short, they're watching you like crazy. And, and I firmly believe this is very well the first homicide in at least 30 years. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Welcome back. Lawyers for Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, insist he should get a new trial. Incredible.

Judge H. Patrick Hager presided over the judge, and I guarantee you it will be a cold day in H-E-double-L that Hager grants a motion for a new trial. That is not going to happen. But Ibarra's defense attorneys insist the decision was, quote, contrary to law and, quote, to the evidence. They also claim the judge, quote, committed other errors of law that necessitate a new trial. Really? Cheryl McCollum, director of the Cold Case Research Institute and star of Zone 7 hit podcast, Cheryl. I've been to UGA. I've seen the running path. A lot of young ladies run that path all the time. And I can't believe, Cheryl, that everybody's screaming about why was she jogging by herself?

What was she wearing? Was she wearing shorts? Was she wearing a jogging bra? Why was she wearing? Was she wearing shorts? Was she wearing a jogging bra? Why was she alone? Why did she pick that time of the day? It's obscene. Why aren't we talking about this guy who came into the country illegally? Number one, he was detained at, I believe it was El Paso, coming across the border. They let him go. Then he was arrested in New York. They let him go. And here he comes to UGA to collide with Lakin.

Before I get on that, tell me what you observed about the scene. I want to see if I agree with you. Okay. When you get right there at Lake Herrick, there's a multi-level parking deck. So this is a well-used area. You've got intramural fields where the band practices. You've got multiple tennis courts. When we were there Friday and Saturday, there were tons of students playing tennis and pickleball. There were elderly people walking the path. There were people with their dogs. There were people kayaking. This is not a place that

is not well traveled by folks. Okay. Stop right there. Stop right there. Stop right there. Guys, she has been on the ground for the last two days, combing the area to report back everything she could find. Does anybody on the panel know whether Lakin was clothed or unclothed or partially clothed? Jump in. She was discovered, you know, with extreme facial injuries from what I was able to determine in my conversations. And of course, the problem here, Nancy, is something that we all need to be aware of. As an instructor for the Bureau, you know, I taught death investigations. And one of the important points here is that individuals, when they are in areas that are protected, like this area is supposed to be, that area is supposed to be watched. It's

supposed to be well-traveled, but apparently it wasn't at the time. And we know these serial offenders or these offenders, like the individual who's charged here, frequently target areas of people. And my largest question is, how in the world do they come from New York? How are they living when they're not working in this apartment that's only five minutes away from this school? And you know, they were in that area. They've seen, he has seen that individual, if not that individual, other young ladies jogging by themselves. And they're certainly encouraged to do that. It's a health issue. It's a mental issue with running. And so it's unfortunate that we can't protect women wherever they are. But we know this. Women have a right to be frightened

of certain men. And that's exactly what's happened here. You're hearing Dale Carson joining us, high profile lawyer out of Jacksonville. He also and more importantly, former FBI agent and former beat cop in Miami Dade. Never a lack of business there. Dale, you're absolutely right. Cheryl McCollum, I want to get back to the location. I like that you pointed out how well used this area is. In other words, populated. Cheryl, I'm a runner and there have been many times and you know, I've talked about it. Well, I will be running. No earbuds in. Phil Vetrano taught us that because Karina had in earbuds, didn't hear what was sneaking

up behind her, but no earbuds. But when you're running, you're in a groove and you're not necessarily looking around you. But every once in a while, I get a feeling like, hey, I've gone too far. I need to turn around and get back. I don't even know where I am right now. And that's what happens. But this girl, Lakin, had a route. She had a particular route. And we're hearing that the defendant, may he rot in hell, only lived a few minutes away. He knew this trail. He watched it like a predator, like a hyena at the water watching the gazelles approach.

And he waited for just the right one at the right time. And he pounced. and I guarantee you technical legal term that he did or tried to sex assault this young girl he didn't just jump on her for what to steal her tennis shoes no this guy I guarantee you attacked her and he needs to go straight to the Georgia death penalty as a pit stop to hell. She did everything right, Cheryl. They had band practice there, pickleball, tennis. It's a very well-used jogging path. Cheryl, what else did you see? The most important thing to me is the route is very clear.

Where you start at the parking deck, you run this whole route, you come right back to it. She was a cross-country runner in high school. She was not unfamiliar with this terrain. So down by where Lake Herrick is, is where it's very populated, a whole bunch of folks. Once you get to the top of the route, coming back down, that's the part through the woods. That's where he was waking on her. So again, instead of asking why was she there, why was he there? Why was he allowed to stalk and attack and murder and then walk back home? And Nancy, from the back of his apartment complex, so if you go to Milledgeville Avenue, it backs right up to this path that leads you to railroad tracks.

Right over that is the path that he took to grab her, assault her, and murder her. And as the crow flies— And Cheryl, it's not fenced off, is it? No, sir. There's no fence. It's wide open, and there's multiple apartment complexes that can lead down to this lovely area. And I am telling you, I saw people in their eighties walking. I saw people from the community there.

I saw students there. It is a beautiful place, but again, from his back door as the crow flies, it wasn't five minutes. Is there any visual connection? Yes. He can see from his apartment into the area he's just a few moments where he lives i believe with his brother who was now behind bars on other charges has had at least three arrests that we know i mean these two enter our country illegally they live off the taxpayers. They have an arrest. The brother, multiple arrests. This guy

one arrest. They're still here and he murders our Lakin, our girl, a Dean's List student. Look at her. Look at her. There she is all dressed up to be a nurse wearing the little white jacket. She can't wait to take care of other people. That's over. She was brutally beaten. Joe Scott Morgan, what can you tell me about her mode of death? Guys, Joseph Scott Morgan is with us, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. And I've got to tell you, I've done several recreations there myself. It's an incredible program.

He's the author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and a star of a hit podcast, Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan. Joe Scott, tell me about this little girl's mode of death. She's 22 years old, Dean's List, her family devastated. And then I've got this sack of crap behind bars who came in our country illegally and murdered this girl. How did he kill her? According to police. Yeah, according to the police, what they're saying is that she sustained multiple blunt force trauma. And that can mean any number of things. We think about someone picking up a blunt object like a bat or, you know, any rock or that sort of thing and attacking someone. However, you the deeper you dive into this, you begin to think about.

Remember, he talked about a case of opportunity and there's several ways to kind of skin that cat, if you will. So a case of opportunity, if he is there, he doesn't have a weapon. Potentially, he has beaten her to death with his hands, or he could have stepped on her. So that's going to be very important from a physical evidence standpoint. But wait, wait, wait. He didn't just step on her. If his feet were the murder weapons, he had to kick her brutally. You know, when we heard the chief of police at UGA say it was

crime of opportunity that tells me he came down just waiting like I said a hyena a predator without a weapon opportunity that tells me he is like Bundy used a club, a piece of wood, a rock, his fists, his feet. And I believe, Joe Scott, she fought like hell. And therefore, he murdered her. Yeah. And one other thing, Nancy, is very important. We have to examine this word opportunity. I wonder, from a physical evidence standpoint, this is kind of fascinating, something to explore. Did he have a hide set up? That is an observable

point where he could see people coming and going. He had picked out the location. And is there physical tiebacks to that location? Let's think about fingerprints, rather. Let's think about also cigarette butts. Anything that is left behind that ties back specifically to him, that shows him in some kind of perch there waiting where he's kind of receded back into the woods. And look, you jog, you know that you can't see everybody to your left and your right, but he can see them. He has an advantage. Who expects to be attacked as they're jogging? I totally believe. Is this Jason? Jump in. Go ahead. It's Phil. Oh, it's Phil. Go ahead. i totally believe he staked out the area

as in with karina and with karina she was found at a bottom of a u so he could see people coming from the left and he could see people coming from the right and i believe with Lakin's murder, he had been following her or watching her. And he planned this out. In the last days, the violent Trin de Aragua gangster, Jose Ibarra, demands a new trial after he is convicted in the murder of a beautiful young nursing student, Laken Riley. Well, hell will freeze over before Hager grants him a new trial. And this is why. A very simple review of the evidence. To you, Jason Dennis from WTVM, who's been on the story from the beginning.

When I think of my little girl, Lucy, and the possibility, she's just not even, uh, just a couple of years younger than Lakin. Who wants their daughter in this list? And what more can you tell us? What connected this sack of crap to the murder? First of all, Nancy, I can tell you that as my son, as I mentioned, he's 19 years old. He's a student at UGA, one of about 35,000 students. So this is a large school.

You know it well. And, you know, in this area right there, I saw an interview with a former roommate of Lake and Riley. She was infuriated that how could something like this happen? She says, you know, there's no excuses for like, okay, she was running or was she by herself? What was she wearing? She said that this area is run often by all kinds of people, all kinds of parts of the day. My son is a runner as well. And I mean, he literally parks at the intramural fields right next to that area. It's very heavily traveled, especially on a weekday morning. So, you know, he was allegedly lying in wait. And, you know, along with being arrested by ICE through El Paso back in 2022. And then he was arrested five months ago for what they called

acting in a manner to injure a child under the age of 17. That was in he was arrested five months ago for what they called acting in a manner to injure a child under the age of 17. That was in New York City five months ago. And he was released because they couldn't have a detainer on him. So released because essentially they did not have room for him or couldn't keep him behind bars. And you mentioned earlier, his brother, Diego Ibarra, he was also arrested in Georgia. He had actually accused of using a fake green card to get a temporary job with food services at the University of Georgia, did not provide further documentation. So he was fired from that job, never officially paid by the University of Georgia. So you have these two brothers that are living there in Athens in that area, and both allegedly illegal immigrants. And there's nobody looking out for what they're doing, why they're doing it. And as Cheryl mentioned earlier, and she maybe can speak

to this, but according to reports, there's no visible security cameras or really good lighting in that area around the lake. But the University of Georgia did release a statement recently and a letter to parents actually about this disturbing incident that they said right before this murder happened, they approved some enhanced lighting improvements. I'm not sure if it's for this specific area, but for around campus. And this brings to light, you know, the need for those kind of things. Can I just point out that the entire UGA campus is 41,539 acres? Repeat, 41,539 acres spread out over multiple counties. Yes, I wish they had surveillance video there. But this guy is the killer. And I want to know, Cheryl McCollum, what do we know that's going to connect him?

Do you know, Dale? Jump in. Here's what I think. There's a broader problem that we're all missing here. When people come into this country illegally, the ability of us to vet them out and find out what their personal history is with Venezuela is non-existent. These individuals could be serial predators in Venezuela and coming here for the rest of the herd, as you've mentioned, with an excellent description of the hyenas and the gazelles. I mean, we can't let people just wander into the

country. When we used to do background investigations, we had the authority of the FBI to look at the other country's criminal records. We don't have that with Venezuela. You know, speaking of him having left Venezuela, how do I know he wasn't leaving crime allegations there? I do know this. He is married with a five-year-old child, Cheryl McCollum. Cheryl, I'm trying to figure out what is connecting him. Obviously, he's not that smart. So did he have bloody clothing?

Does somebody place him there? What do you know? There's two heroes in this thing, Nancy. First, the roommate that cut his time down from able to, you know, hide and cover up and get away with this thing. So the roommate is the first person that alerted us so quickly so that they could get on his trail. The second thing is I absolutely believe he discarded something in a dumpster from the back of his apartment complex. How you access the path is where their dumpsters are. I believe a second person notified law enforcement that they saw him discard something. A motion for a new trial is a predictable and necessary first step a defense team makes before they can file an appeal. Well, I know it may be a formality to them, but this judge is not going to grant a new trial.

I can predict that from a thousand miles away. Over the course of that four-day trial, there were 29 prosecution witnesses, three defense witnesses, and vehement arguments on both sides. And it was heartbreaking to see Lakin's mother crying in court, sometimes putting her hands over her eyes because she just couldn't take it any longer. But let me report, she did not leave that courtroom. She stayed for the evidence, regardless of how difficult it was.

And at this hour, the defense is demanding a new trial. Are you kidding me with facts like this? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A motion for new trial in the case of a violent illegal immigrant who murdered nursing student Laken Riley has been filed. What went in to that verdict finding? In closing arguments, the defense actually argued to the judge with a straight face that Laken Riley, the murder victim, should have, could have outrun Jose Ibarra. Why? Why is that relevant? Because the defense, Caitlin Beck, argued that Jose Ibarra was shorter

and quote, fatter than brother Diego. So I guess she's arguing the killer had to be Diego, the brother, because he was taller and faster. They actually argued that. But back to real evidence. Listen, a match between the contact robbings from the jacket and Jose Ibarra is approximately 100 trillion times more probable than a coincidental match to an unrelated person in the population. That from our friends at the National Desk. You are hearing the GBI Crime Lab analyst, Ashley Hinkle. Did you hear that? Philip Dubé, 100 trillion times. But she could not eliminate transfer. She could not eliminate transfer. That's the problem. Hold on. There is a match. I think I think that we can eliminate transfer because Dave Mack joining us at the courthouse. Isn't it true that video catches Jose Ibarra throwing that jacket, not Diego, the brother, but Jose Ibarra, throwing that jacket into, oh, there he is. That's the same shirt he was wearing one hour earlier, posting on WhatsApp.

The video of him throwing the jacket into the dumpster, that is what they've used to say Diego is the killer, because they said that one of the friends that actually was interviewed by police said she thought it was Diego throwing the jacket in the dumpster. Now, she wasn't 100% sure, but a friend who knew them both much better said, no, that's Jose. So that's where the defense got their whole idea was from the witness saying, I think it's Diego throwing the jacket away. That entire defense strategy came from that one comment from somebody who was not even sure. Okay. So to believe that, Dave Mack, I mean, I've seen, I was sitting in court

when the state showed the photo of Jose Ibarra one hour before the murder, posting selfies, wearing that exact shirt. I'd like to see it because it has very unusual markings. There he is, there he is in the shirt. One hour later, throwing the jacket with a 100 trillion likelihood DNA match. So I don't know what Dubé is talking about transfer and listen about the fingernail clippings. The DNA match between the wet dry swabbing from the fingernail clippings from the right hand and the match was to Jose Antonio Ibarra. Still, Ashley Hinkle on the stand from our friends at the National Desk and there's more on the fingernail DNA match. The match is 10 billion times more probable than a coincidental match to an unrelated person in the population. Okay

Philip Dube, 10 billion likelihood? 100 trillion likelihood? There's no chance of a transfer because you just saw Jose Ibarra throwing that jacket into the trash minutes after Lakin is killed. So when's the transfer? There's a difference between consciousness of guilt and throwing that away and consciousness of fear. He obviously realized that there was some type of serological evidence on the jacket and dumped it out of fear of being accused. So he dumped it. I mean, that's how I would have attacked it. It doesn't necessarily mean just because biological evidence is on your clothing that you're the culprit. We've seen this

in history. We saw it a few months ago out of a Detroit murder where a well-known Jewish community advocate was murdered by knife in front of her home. The defendant was caught on video outside of her home. He testified he was acquitted. He said he touched her as an afterthought to try to rifle through her belongings, see what was happening. The jury believed him. In this case, the judge would not have believed him. Speaking of fantastical arguments, the defense also argued that Jose Ibarra was just an accomplice. That maybe two men were involved in Lakin's murder and two rocks. That makes it so easy for the judge to find Ibarra guilty. Joining me right now, a special guest, renowned medical examiner, Dr. Kendall Crowns, chief medical examiner, Tarrant County,

esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. Dr. Kendall-Crowns, you and I have gone over and over the autopsy evidence in this case. Could you describe what happened to Lakin? Certainly. So she has blunt trauma to the head from the rock that set the scene with the blood on it that has caused lacerations or kind of splitting of the skin and a depressed skull fracture, which is kind of pushing in of the skull itself from being struck over and over and over with the rock. She also has what they've described as asphyxia. The medical examiner said she had signs of asphyxia at the autopsy. That can be petechial hemorrhages of the eye, which are little bursting of the

capillaries on your eye. It can also be hemorrhages in the neck musculature from a manual strangulation. So probably she's strangled, wakes back up, panics, and then beats her head in with a rock. Or he hits her with a rock. She passes out. He's trying to rape her. She wakes back up and then he strangles her. Either way, it's pretty bad. You know, I always wonder, and Dubé will have a big fit over this, based on what Dr. Kendall Crowns has just told us,

what Lakin went through as she fought for her life, why the defendant didn't take the stand and testify. Hey, if you're not guilty, where were you? What were you doing? Listen. Mr. Barr, do you want to testify? I guess he didn't. That's my friends at the National Desk. Cheryl McCollum, you just heard what Dr. Kendall Krause explained happened to Lakin and her fight to live. How she was humiliated, attacked, brutalized, her face disfigured. Did you really think Ibarra was going to take the stand?

Not a shot. And I'll tell you something. We can talk about her injuries and those are vital to understand. But the injuries that she gave to him to me are just as vital. She punched him dead in the mouth. She scratched him on the wrist, on the throat, on his back, on his elbow, on his arm. She fought for those 18 minutes like her life depended on it because she knew it did. One of the defense's first witnesses is a neighbor of the Ibarra's. The woman says Diego Ibarra approached her the evening of February 22nd, asking why the complex is crawling with cops. In broken Spanish, the woman tells him a young lady lost her life behind the complex. Aware that it's along Diego's path to work,

she encourages him to speak up if he saw anything suspicious. Two officers briefly check in on Ibarra and the woman. When they walk away, the woman says Diego Ibarra urgently typed something into the translator app for her to read. The defense trying to shift blame on Jose Ibarra's brother, Diego, it didn't work. Straight back out to Dr. Kendall Crowns joining us. We're now medical examiner out of Tarrant County. Dr. Kendall Crowns, we know that Lakin fought back. She fought for concussion. She could have potentially, depending on how much brain damage there was, been still able to survive that injury. If it was severe enough, she probably could have died within minutes of receiving it. It all depends on how much damage the skull fracture went through into her brain.

The strangulation, on the other hand, she'd probably be unconscious when a little over 10 to 20 seconds. And if he continued to apply pressure, she'd be dead within about four to five minutes. Cheryl McCollum, it's beyond understanding for me that the defense actually argued maybe there were two assailants and two rocks. Yeah. You know, Nancy, the injuries to his wrist and his elbow says to me she probably knocked the first rock out of his hand and he simply grabbed the second one and finished the job to the point part of her skull was in her brain. He beat her. He beat her violently. He set out that morning to find a victim. He did not care who.

In my mind, the judge had no alternative other than finding Ibarra guilty in the murder of Lakin Riley. Yes, a verdict has been rendered. He's not the only one sentenced in this case. Her mother, her family are sentenced to life without Lakin. They're sentenced to life remembering what she suffered. They are sentenced to life remembering those last images of her running free.

Wake and rally. Rest in peace. Good night, friends.